


And Prom's Tomorrow!

by Z_Aggro



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: 5+1 Things, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Bad Boy Keith (Voltron), M/M, Meet-Cute, Nerd Shiro (Voltron), Overuse of the Thesaurus, Shiro (Voltron) Has a Large Cock, abuse of commas, can you fall in love in a week?, find out next week on Dragon Ball Sheith, in a very loose way, it wasn't supposed to be that but this is sheith we're talking about, oh yeah this is for the sheith meme event, or I guess meet-awkward, this isn't super relevant but I thought you should be aware
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-01
Updated: 2019-05-04
Packaged: 2020-02-09 17:58:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 15,652
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18643183
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Z_Aggro/pseuds/Z_Aggro
Summary: Keith and Shiro were assigned as partners on a project worth 80% of their final grade. There's only one problem: It's sue at the end of the week.Okay, two problems: They're so distracted by each other, they aren't sure if they can work together.Okay, okay! Three problems: AND THE PROM'S TOMORROW!!!1!1!!! (Well the day after the project's due but you get the point.)OR5 times Shiro and Keith are awkward around each other and the 1 time they're still awkward but are pretty chill about it.





	1. SomeBODY Once Told Me

**Author's Note:**

> Heyy, I spent way too long on this. But I got it done. Also, do y’all remember when fanfiction writers would speak to the characters in the author’s note?
> 
> Shiro: oh yeah, I remember that
> 
> Mei: O.o You do??? Shiro you used to read fanfiction?
> 
> Shiro: Of course, after all, fanfiction is a valid form of media filled with creativity that goes underappreciated by society and is often ridiculed for reasons that aren’t unrelated to misogyny.
> 
> Keith: Shiro and I would read together all the time. He’s a softie and likes flower shop aus.
> 
> Shiro: ^^’ guilty as charged! (by the way, Keith liked them more than me)
> 
> Keith: -_-
> 
> Shiro :*
> 
> Keith: :o
> 
> Me: >w< d’aww so cute!!!
> 
> ...I'm so sorry for this

Yo listen up here’s a story… about a science nerd and a rebellious bad boy ended up going to prom together. I know, an unlikely pairing. But life is weird like that. Things happen that’s you’d never expect in life.

Or you know in other people’s lives. But whatever.

Our story began on a cool April Monday, at Garrison High School with a young man named Takashi Shirogane.

Shiro was pretty much ignored when he started ninth grade. Just a nerdy little freshman nothing spectacular. It was that way until sophomore year that people took notice. Some asshat decided it would be a great idea to start bullying poor little Shiro. One day the dumbass pushed Shiro against a locker to corner him. Shiro responded by tossing the guy halfway down the hall, revealing to the world that he wasn’t a defenseless awkward science nerd. He was a strong awkward science nerd. Though, as far as Shiro was concerned, he wasn’t awkward. He was just Shiro.

So here he was: walking to his first class of the morning, a stack of five or so books held easily in his arms, trying to walk faster than his ‘friends’. You know, the ones who wouldn’t shut up about prom.

As much as Shiro loves his friends, he couldn’t help being frustrated with them sometimes. He knew they meant well. They only wanted him to ‘have fun’ and ‘enjoy himself’ and ‘not spend his life trapped inside with no friends.’

Whatever. He was enjoying himself. He didn’t need prom.

“But Shiro,” Matt groaned. “It’s like, the biggest event of our lives.”

Shiro rolled his eyes. He thought Matt of all people would understand his aversion. After all, they had known each other since they were little kids. “Matt,” Shiro began, “I’ve told we’ve talked about this a hundred times.”

“Shiro,” Allura said. Shiro hadn’t known her for nearly as long as Matt, but she was still an amazing friend nonetheless. “We only want what’s best for you. And we think it would be a great idea for you to go out. You know, one last time before school’s over.”

Shiro clutched his books tighter to his chest, his prosthetic arm whirring with the effort. “I don’t even have a date,” he muttered. He wasn’t like salty or anything. I mean, it’s not like he was even looking for a date. But no one seemed all that interested.

“You don’t need a date,” Matt said, walking faster to catch up. “You’re coming with us!”

“Both of you have dates though.”

“Oh Shiro,” Allura said, classily speed-walking to match Shiro’s pace. “You act like we’ll abandon you. We’d never do that.” Shiro distinctly remembers a party they dragged him to where they did exactly that. “You’re our friend first and foremost.”

“Guys please just drop it,” Shiro said eyes downcast. “ I’ll just end up dragging you down anyway. You guys go and have fun. I’ll be fine.”

Now just down the hall was another fine young gentleman. His name was Keith Kogane.

Keith was most certainly not ignored in his first year. He wasn’t trying to garner attention, but sometimes it just be that way. Keith was immediately targeted by bullies for being tiny and having a smart mouth. Not that they stood any chance against him, but they certainly tried (and bless their hearts for trying). Keith didn’t care about them though. And eventually, for whatever reason, he started cultivating this mysterious bad boy™ image. (It may have had something to do with the leather jacket and ripped jeans and motorcycle but who knows)

Anyway, Keith was currently in a similar situation to Shiro, two well-meaning friends hounding him about prom.

“Keith, all I’m saying is,” Hunk began, “it’ll be one last night to have a bunch of fun before school’s over.” Hunk and Keith’s friendship was unexpected. How did Mr. Sugar and Sunshine become good friends with Mr. Gray and Gloomy? Maybe sometimes people aren’t always what they first appear. You know, layers and all.

“And~” said Romelle, “You can blow everyone away by showing up dressed like a decent person for once in your life.” As if Romelle, ten-different-colors-on-eight-different-patterns-Romelle, could talk.

“Guys, you’re not gonna convince me to go,” Keith said. “I’d rather drive my bike off a cliff.”

“Aww, Keith, you don’t mean that,” Hunk said. “Well actually you might. Wait didn’t you actually do that before?”

“Anyway,” Romelle interjected, “It would be fun Keith. The three of us will all go together.”

Keith scoffed. “Doesn’t Hunk have a date?” Hunk looked sheepish, but nodded in confirmation. “And aren’t you going with another group of friends. I don’t want to be in your lesbian Fantastic Four.” Keith dug his hands in pockets and hunched his shoulders.

“Keith,” Romelle started, “we just want you to have fun. We worry sometimes.”

Keith glared at the ground. “I have fun. You guys go; I’ll be fine on my own.” He picked up his pace and rounded the corner, planning on losing Hunk and Romelle in the crowd.

That’s when he bumped into something. A wall. Well, probably a person judging by the yell. Books go flying and crashing to the floor. Keith, and whatever wall of a person he hit, fell to the ground as well, Keith landing flat on his but.

“Shit,” Keith exclaims. He scrambles onto his knees, preparing to pick up the books that were dropped. “Sorry, about that,” he mutters.

“No no it’s fine,” said the wall. The voice was vaguely familiar. “I should have been paying attention.” Both reached for the same book, their hands brushing against the other’s.

“Are you--” Keith stopped mid-sentence as he looks up. His heart skipped a beat, his soul was reborn anew, he realized he has never seen beauty before in his life as he comes face to face with the most soulful gray eyes that have ever thought to grace the mortal realm. Keith swears he heard an angel’s chorus.

“H-hi,” said the wall. No, wall was not good enough. That was the god of walls. A deity of barriers. A celestial being of fortification. “I’m Shiro.” Or you know, just Shiro.

The two of them clambered onto their feet, still clutching the book between them. “K-keith. That’s my name.”

“Yeah I know,” Shiro, God of Walls and Beauty, said. Strands of pure white hair fell into his face, like beams of starlight or something equally as poetic. “Uh, I mean, I’ve seen you around, in class, a-and the school before.” Shiro stared at Keith, but whereas anyone else would have made Keith self-conscious, Keith found himself only returning the stare. Instead he felt blessed that such eyes would ever choose to lay their beauty upon someone as mortal as he. Shiro briefly, but what a lonely moment that was, took his eyes off Keith, flitting off to the side. “Oh, uh I gotta...go.”

“Uh yeah of course,” Keith exclaimed. And if his voice was a little high pitched, don’t say anything. He let go of the book and handed Shiro the other he had picked up.

“See you around,” Shiro said, eyes meeting Keith’s one last time.

“Yeah. See you.” Shiro walked away, books clutched tight to his chest. Keith watched, almost longingly, as Shiro disappears into the crowd of students.

“So~.” If other beings were allowed to exist on the same plane as Shiro, that voice would have belonged to Hunk. “I guess you’re rethinking that whole prom thing, huh.”

Keith (sadly) snapped out of his reverie and shot a sharp look at his friends. “Whatever,” he grunted, shoving his hands back into his pocket. “I’m still not going.” He marched away, pointedly ignoring Hunk and Romelle snickering behind him

Meanwhile, just down the hallway Shiro was having an awakening of his own.  
He hadn’t known such beauty could exist. He hadn’t known that gods allowed mortals to lay their eyes upon something as stunning as who he saw. Shiro swore he saw galaxies being created and stars being born in those gorgeous pools of sparkling iridescent violet.

Shiro was disappointed in himself. He had known about that kid (no, kid was an insult. A fey, or an angel were words more befitting) since junior year. Yet, he had never looked at him, never saw the dazzling eyes. And that voice, rough and warm like a desert. Raspy but not unpleasant. It was captivating, making you want to here more than the short sentences Shiro granted. How could he have been such a fool?

“Real smooth there Shiro,” spoke a voice that was not the gruff allure of Keith’s. No, unfortunately it was Matt. “Thought we lost you there for a second.

“Looks like you might want to rethink you Saturday night plans,” said Allura, a conspiratorial smile crossing her lips.

Shiro rolled his eyes, tightening his grip on his books. “No guys. I’m still not going. And you can’t make me.” He sped up, hoping that his longs strides would outpace his friends, or at least make them struggle to keep up.

Eventually though, his friends had to leave him as the bells rang and class began. It was Shiro’s least favorite class of the day, AP Physics. Well no, that’s a lie. It was Shiro’s least favorite teacher of the day, Dr. Slav.

Now, don’t get him wrong. Slav was an incredibly intelligent man. But he was an absolute nightmare to get along with. Unfortunately, Shiro seemed to have caught Slav’s eye as a model student because he never failed to give Shiro a hard time, whether that be in grading or answering questions in class. Still, Shiro would be lying if he said he didn’t enjoy the subject matter. Sometimes.

Other times Slav made him regret picking the class for his schedule. Like today.

“So apparently only having two grades for the end of the year is unacceptable,” Slav began as soon as he entered the classroom. “So I’m giving you more assignments before the year is out.”

Where in many situations murmurs and outrage from students would rise up, there was nothing but eerie silence. Shiro was the first to speak up. “Dr. Slav how do we only have two grades? We have at least three grades due every week?”

“Shiro you have got to be kidding me. You should know that with the majority of those weekly grades, there is a high probability that some of you will learn nothing from them. And just why would take a grade on that?” Shiro felt his eye twitch. Slav continued, seemingly oblivious to the anger radiating off his students. “That is why I am assigning an eight-part project to be due Friday. And with these assignments I am 87% sure each of you will retain the information from.”

Finally, the tension snapped. There were yells of outrage, calls for revolution, uprisings, coups, political debate, and rioting in the class.

And mostly just people lamenting about prom being Saturday.

Slav, again did not seem to notice. Or maybe he just didn’t care. “I have already assigned you partners and there will be no switching. These partners have been picked to guarantee you will learn something and I will take the project for a grade.” He turned on the projector and a list of names pops up on the screen.

Shiro searched the board looking for his name near the end of the list and wouldn’t you believe it. Listed right next to his name was none other than Keith fucking Kogane. What a wild twist of fate! Shiro didn’t know whether to thank the gods for giving him the chance to spend time with Keith or curse them for the same thing. It felt like destiny. Just as Shiro learned the beauty of his fellow classmates, he was gifted with the chance to experience it firsthand even if it was just for five days. And yet, such an opportunity was a double-edged sword for Shiro knew that if he were to spare but one glance at those deep purple eyes, he would be gone. Lost in a nebulous expanse of stars and planets, pulled in by their gravitational pull. Forcefully, yet with a willingness he could never explain.

Slav interrupted Shiro’s melodramatic musings and Shiro couldn’t help but hate the man a little more. “I’m passing out a handout with the assignments listed. Meet with your partner for the next ten minutes to talk, and then we will begin class officially.”

Shiro scanned the classroom, looking for Keith, but alas! He was once again tormented by fate as Keith is nowhere to be seen. Shiro knows why, and he can’t blame Keith. Slav didn’t actually take roll. He just guessed based on the probability of whether the student would be there or not. Looking back, Shiro realized he’d actually hardly ever seen Keith in class unless it was a test day. Shiro couldn’t help but feel a tinge of disappointment. But honestly, Keith not being in class was probably a good thing because neither of them were ready to face each just yet.

(And it gave Shiro more time to wax poetic about Keith, but don’t tell anyone.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you read to end, thanks! But we're not done yet. I, for whatever godforsaken reason, wrote five more chapters of this nonsense. Cool!
> 
> I'll finish paying everything by Saturday hopefully. Everything is written, I just forget easily...
> 
> Also, come say hi on [twitter](https://twitter.com/ZeroAggro)


	2. Take On Me, Take Me On

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my God, you kept reading. Wow! Cool! Heave some more low-key second-hand embarrassment. Y'know, just enough to make you facepalm but not enough to make you have to put down your phone and walk around the room for a few minutes.

Our story then picks up on Tuesday at lunchtime. Fresh from a Taco Bell, Keith was stealthily pulling back into the school parking lot before any of the faculty could notice. Luckily, he’d come just at the right time, probably after they had gathered the students trying to leave just as lunch began. Homefree, Keith began to make his way to the picnic area outside the cafeteria.

Just as he was pulling out his meal, Pidge of all people came up to him.

“Something happen in Slav’s,” Keith asked. Really the only time Keith ever saw Pidge was when something happens in one of the classes they share, usually Slav’s.

“Yeah, tell me about it,” she scoffed. “Apparently we’ve only done two assignments that were actually worth grading this year.”

 Keith chewed on his taco. He was disappointed, but not surprised. He could easily see Slav pulling a stunt like this. Keith couldn’t help but laugh. “Really? Hope those are my good grades if that’s it.”

 Pidge smiled, but her eyes told a different, more annoyed story. “Yeah, that’s not all. To make up for this, we have an eight-part project due Friday.”

 Keith stopped chewing his taco. “What?”

 “I know. You have a partner though so I guess that’s good. Do you know who Shiro is? Takashi Shirogane?”

Did Keith know who that was? What a question! That demigod like beauty made himself aware to Keith just yesterday. Keith felt stupid that he’d only been aware of Shiro for only 28 hours. Okay, well, it wasn’t as if Keith hadn’t known about Shiro at all. They were in the same class after all. Keith had noticed the boy in the pictures for the robotics team and chemistry and all the other really sciency shit and good noodle awards on the pictures in the school. He just kinda wrote him off as a goody two-shoes super nerdy golden boy type. Someone Keith would _never_ hang out with. (Not that Hunk fit that description _at all,_ but Keith was really just trying to justify to himself why it took almost four years of high school to notice Shiro).

 “Yeah, I know him,” Keith said after what he’d hoped wasn’t too long of a pause.

 “Good, cause he’s your partner.” Whereas Keith should have felt elation as the prospect of having to opportunity to make up for four lost years, he instead felt a sense of dread. How the hell was he going to complete this project if he was staring into Shiro’s eyes all day?

Though maybe failing a class was kinda worth it.

“Alright. Thanks Pidge. I’ll find him.”

“Cool. Don’t be so distracted you fail though,” She said quickly before scurrying away.

_D-did...Did she read my mind,_ Keith thought, staring after Pidge as she made her way back to her table to sit with Hunk and Lance. _Wait Hunk! Dammit Hunk! Who else did you tell about yesterday?_

Everyone. He told everyone.

\- - - - - - - - - -

The rest of the school day had continued without any major incidents, at least as far as high school goes. It wasn’t until Shiro was at his locker gathering his things that any sort of plot was able to resume.

Shiro was getting worried. He really only had three more days until this project was finished and he still hadn’t met with Keith. In theory, Shiro could do the entire project alone but it was an eight-part project and Shiro cared at least somewhat about his health.

Regardless, there he was, throwing books into his backpack, debating on how to find Keith. He knew he could have just asked Pidge or someone to find Keith and tell them, but he’d been procrastinating, which was unlike Shiro at all. He didn’t know why he was so anxious about Keith. For whatever mysterious reason, he was so nervous about talking to him.

(It had nothing to do with how hot Keith was. That would be ridiculous.)

Unfortunately for Shiro, and fortunately for his grade, he wouldn’t need to seek out Keith for himself. Because who was that making their way down the hall? None other than the man of Shiro’s dreams (sorry, not dreams, just thoughts), Keith Kogane. He was walking with purpose, scanning the hall before locking eyes with Shiro. He looked almost startled to see him, body stiffening, head jerking as if wanting to look away. Keith appeared to let out a breath and began making a path more clearly toward Shiro.

Shiro tried not to ogle Keith as the boy made his way over, but it was like he couldn’t help himself. How was he supposed to tear his eyes away from mile-long legs wrapped in ripped jeans that would’ve looked painfully tight on anyone else? How was he supposed to look away from that tiny waist accentuated by a dark leather jacket? And, oh god, how was he supposed to not stare into those celestial violet pools of newborn galaxies apparently known to mortals as eyes?

Shiro was just a man. And a weak one at that.

“Hey... Shiro,” Keith’s gruff voice said. He said Shiro’s name slowly, not as a question. It was more like he was preparing himself. “Someone told me we’re partner on some project for Slav?”

That’s right. The project. “Oh, yeah,” Shiro said. “I’m sorry I didn’t find you sooner.”

“No, no, it’s fine,” Keith responded quickly. “I mean, it’s more my fault for skipping class and everything.”

“Yeah… I mean, uh, no! I mean, I completely understand why you skip class. That’s not--There’s no problem... with that…” Shiro trails of.

Silence.

“Er, well,” Shiro said before the atmosphere could get any more uncomfortable. “It’s okay now. You found me after all.”

Keith smiled, ever so slightly, but it still made Shiro’s heart skip. “Yeah. I guess I did.” There’s silence again, but this time it’s much more pleasant. “But I was gonna ask: do you want to go to the library work on the project? The public library, not the school one.” Keith looked to the side, arms crossed. “Unless you don’t want to work with me.” He added quickly. “Then, y’know, we could just split up the work and turn it in Friday.”

Shiro felt his heart ache a little. Sure, Keith probably just meant that some people prefer working alone and he was willing to accommodate that, but he looked so sad! What if people didn’t want to work with Keith? What if he was just preparing for the inevitable rejection he so often faced? What if Keith just wanted to be around others but didn’t know how?

What if Shiro actually responded to Keith’s question before it got too weird again?

“Keith, I don’t mind working with you. We can go to the library.” Maybe Shiro was looking too closely into the situation, but he swore he saw Keith smile just a little at his words. “Just let me call my grandfather and let him know I’ll be a little late.” Shiro pulled out his phone and starts putting in the number. It was a short conversation, mostly Shiro’s grandfather making sure Shiro would be home in time for dinner. (Which of course Shiro would be, even though it wasn’t mac and cheese day.)

“Okay, all set,” Shiro said cheerfully. “Let’s go.”

\- - - - - - - - - -

Keith didn’t think about the fact that his ride is a motorcycle until they’re next to it. And he definitely hadn’t considered the fact that he didn’t have any helmets.

“Shit,” he muttered. Of course there’d be something like this. Just as he had gathered up the courage to approach the silver eyed god known to the world as Takashi Shirogane. “Sorry Shiro, I just realized I came to school on my bike. And I don’t have helmets.” Surely someone as straight-laced and sensible as Shiro would never ride on a motorcycle with a rebellious hoodlum such as Keith. And with no helmet to boot.

“Oh I don’t mind.” Huh? “It’s not a big deal.” Keith shot a skeptical look toward Shiro Shiro. “What? I’ve driven motorcycles without a helmet plenty of times.”

Keith stared at Shiro. Huh. He never would have thought Takashi sweater-vest-wearing, shirt-always-tucked-in, khakis-pulled-up-past-his-waistline Shirogane would apparently regularly drive motorcycles without a helmet. Maybe Shiro was a little more reckless than people thought.

“Is it really that surprising?” Though Shiro was beaming in a way that said he knew exactly how shocking it was. It was that same goofy, golden boy grin that made Keith smile earlier.

“I guess maybe not,” Keith said, amusement evident in his voice. He hitched his leg over the side, straddling the bike. “Well then hop on.” Shiro’s ears turned a little red and Keith couldn’t decide whether to feel proud of himself or embarrassed.

(He should choose proud because there was still ample opportunity to be embarrassed.)

Shiro nodded and got onto the bike, hands hooking securely around his waist, the right arm hanging on a little more firmly than the left. It would have been a decent hold had Keith been a law-abiding motorcyclist. Unfortunately he wasn’t, his only rule being don’t actually cause an accident. (You can come close, but don’t actually do it.)

Keith turned the key and revved the engines, taking up the kickstand as he prepared to drive off. “You might want to hold on a little tighter Shiro.” And that was all the warning he gave before shooting out of the parking lot. Keith felt Shiro tighten his grip on his waist and couldn’t help but snicker.

Keith did drive a little safer though. Not (quite) as fast, not (quite) as furious. Whereas with anyone else he wouldn’t have even considered changing his driving style, he at least made an attempt to adjust for Shiro. And besides, he didn’t want to be the one held responsible for killing God. At least not this one.

Ten minutes after what should have been a 20 minute drive, the two pulled into the parking lot of the library.

Turning off the bike, Keith couldn’t help but be a little concerned as he glanced back a Shiro. “You okay,” he asked trying to keep the worry out of his voice.

Luckily it wasn’t needed, as Keith was met with Shiro’s bright goofy smile. “Of course I am,” he said in a breathy laugh. “It’s been a while since I’ve been the passenger.” Keith smiled back, the two of them sharing a sweet quiet moment in the parking lot of a library.

Then Keith became hyper-aware of Shiro’s arms wrapped tightly around his waist.       

“C-cool. Glad you enjoyed yourself,” He turned back to the front, and pulled his keys out the ignition. “Guess we should get to working, huh.”

“O-oh. Right,” Shiro said, probably not understanding why Keith was suddenly having a gay panic. He let go, once again causing Keith conflicting feelings, and followed Keith as they hastily made their way into the library.

They reached a sitting area hidden amongst the shelves as to not disturb anyone with their project. Shiro pulled out the rubric Slav had given in class, along with a physics textbook. “So, I had been looking through the rubric. It looks like the easiest part is the two-page paper about the history of Rube Goldberg Devices so we should save that for the end. The first thing I think we should do is work on designing the device because a lot of the other parts are based off of it.” Shiro kept talking.

Now don’t think for a second Keith wasn’t listening, Lord knows he was listening. He was practically entranced by Shiro’s warm, buttery smooth voice. He paid attention to how his brow furrowed, to how he tapped his pencil against his lip, to how his slate gray eyes would brighten when talking about a particularly interesting part. He was completely captivated as Shiro went on about physics, the sexiest subject of all. He was listening alright. Maybe not actually hearing what Shiro was saying, but he was most certainly listening.

That’s why Keith totally noticed when Shiro stopped talking. “Oh, sorry,” Shiro said, reaching to rub the back of his neck. “I’m just going on. Did you have any plans or methods for finishing the project? ...Keith?”

“H-huh? Oh, uh no what you said was great,” Keith said, snapping out of his trance. “Those are great ideas. We should probably start then, yeah?” Keith hoped he didn’t look or sound as flustered as he felt, though judging by the amused smile on Shiro’s face, he probably didn’t succeed.

“Yeah, we should,” Shiro said, voice soft and airy.

The two of them worked quietly for the better part of three hours, trading ideas about elements to add to their device and materials to use. Conversation never stayed far from the project, probably out of urgency for completing the assignment. Occasionally Shiro would get up to grab a book to help with the design process, but otherwise, the two stayed quietly tucked away in their little section of the library.

At around 5:30, Shiro announced that it was probably time for him to get home, accounting for an early dinner with his grandfather. They began to pack their things.

“Great work today,” Shiro said while shoving notebooks into his backpack. “We made a lot of progress, much more than I thought we would.” He stood up from his chair and stretched as he slowly began walking.

“Yeah,” Keith agreed. “At this rate we’ll be finished easily.” Keith gathered his backpack in his arms and made to stand up too.

Unfortunately, Keith had been sitting down for three hours straight. 

As Keith tried to support himself on his own, his legs, numb with disuse, disagreed to the notion. He took one step before crash landing into Shiro, who was unable to support them both so suddenly. The two of them fell to the ground with a thud. However, unlike how they met, the god of contrivances decided to intervene. Keith landed right on top of Shiro.

Shiro was… surprisingly built. Keith could see that he was tall but he was pretty big all around. All around. Dear God… But he was a lot of hard muscle (Oh god!) And wasn’t nearly as soft and squishy as Keith would have thought. Nearly because the god of contrivances blessed Keith with both a faceful and handful of what Keith probably should call ‘pecs’ but his hindbrain immediately resolved to declare ‘tiddies.’ This was the same part of the brain that decided Keith should involuntarily squeeze said ‘tiddies.’

Honestly Keith could’ve lied there caressed in those plush, soft boobies forever but life just doesn't work out that way. No, unfortunately he had to get up and face the fact that he kinda just felt up this man (god) he met 48 hours ago.

Keith raised his head, face bright red as he looked down at Shiro who wore a matching look of bewilderment. “Shiro, I’m so sorry! I guess my leg must have fallen asleep. I’m really sorry.” Keith stood and reached out his hand to help Shiro to his feet. After a beat Shiro reached to take Keith’s hand. 

“N-no, it’s fine. I, uh, you didn’t mean to.,” Shiro responded, voice tight. Tightening his grip on Keith’s hand, he slowly got to his feet. “Are you okay?”

 “I’m fine,” Keith exclaimed. “I should be asking you that. Did I hurt you?” Shiro shook his head, seemingly unable to speak anymore.

“Shit. I’m still really sorry about that. I should probably get going.” Keith fully put on his backpack and started walking away 

“W-wait! Keith.” Keith jumped and turned back to Shiro, whose face was still bright red. Shiro shifted on his feet, readjusting the hem of the sweater vest that hid the true nature of his body type. Keith searched his face, wondering why Shiro called out to him. Keith squeezed his hand around the keys to his bike and-- 

Oh yeah.

He still had to drive Shiro home.

(And it was just as awkward as you would imagine.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> By the way, I'm a psych major. I know less than nothing about physics. I also don't know shit about motorcycles. Why did I write about them then? Because I love Sheith. And isn't that why we do anything?


	3. Near, Far, Wherever You Are

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last time I did any sort of creative writing was a Pokemon fanfiction I wrote on Wattpad when I was 14 and I think it shows.

Shiro and Keith see each other again early on Wednesday, in Slav’s class surprisingly enough. Shiro wasn’t expecting to see Keith for at least another six hours. He was still reeling from their little _incident_ the day before. Keith had been surprisingly heavy when he fell on top of Shiro. And small. Like his body small not his...other parts small.

And no. Shiro was not paying attention to that. He is a man of honor (mostly).

Anyway, the point is Shiro wasn’t expecting to go into a panic this early in the morning but life has a way of doing its own way. He had just been setting out his notebooks when Keith sauntered into the room dressed head to toe in black, including what had to be the tightest pair of jeans Shiro had ever been blessed to see. Heck, they clung to Keith’s legs in a way that may not have even been jeans.

Keith scanned the room before his eyes fell on Shiro. Shiro tried not to stare as Keith and his legs made their way over to him. He failed, but was there really a bad ending to that situation?

“Morning Shiro,” Keith said, stopping a little bit before Shiro’s desk. Shiro figured he probably didn’t want to get any closer because of their… incident yesterday. And no, Shiro wasn’t still thinking about how nice Keith had felt on top of him. How surprisingly heavy he had been to have such a slim build. How cute his face had been, all bright red and flustered. How strong he must have been to pretty much pull Shiro up without much input on Shiro’s part.

No, Shiro wasn’t thinking of any of that.

“Good morning Keith. Surprised to see you here in class.” It was only after the fact that Shiro hoped he didn’t sound condescending.

“I know right,” Keith said, not seeming to take Shiro’s comment negatively. “I don’t usually come outside of test days.” There was a beat of silence, neither of them quite knowing what to say.

“So…” Shiro began. “Any particular reason you came to class today?”

“Oh, I wanted to see you.” Shiro felt his face heat up. Surely Keith didn’t mean it like that, right?

Keith seemed to notice his ‘error’ in words. “Uh, I mean, I wanted to talk to you. Well, ask you something. I have a question, sorta.”

Shiro tried not to look disappointed. He reasoned o himself that technically that meant Keith wanted to see him. Technically.

“So uh,” Keith started, “I was wondering if you wanted to come to my house today. We could work on the project there. I mean, my parents have supplies we can use for the, uh, project. I figured it’d be easier than taking all the stuff to the library. Unless you don’t want to come over. Then that’s fine…” Keith trailed off and stared at the ground.

“Keith…of course I’ll come with you. To your house,” he added quickly. “To work on the school project,” he added even quicker. “You mean today right?”

Keith nodded. “Yeah, we’d have to take my bike again if you’re okay with that.”

Shiro tried not to think of the awkward ride from the library as he responded that he didn’t mind. He tried to think of the ride _to_ the library, in which he discovered that Keith has an illegally small waist.

Wait, maybe he shouldn’t think of that either.

“Cool,” Keith gave a small smile. “I’ll see you after school then.” Keith started to walk away.

“Wait, you’re leaving,” Shiro questioned. “Class is about to start.”

“I mean I’ve made it this far barely coming to this class. I don’t think I’m gonna miss anything.” Keith started walking again, but stopped at the door and looked at Shiro. “But you’ll tell me if anything pops up, right?” And with that, Keith turned with a smirk and strides out of the classroom, leaving Shiro to spend the next hour (or seven) trying to figure out if Keith had been flirting with him.

\- - - - - - - - - -

Keith felt good with himself for flirting with Shiro. Sure he felt super anxious and couldn’t stop thinking about if what he said was weird or creepy or a bit too much, but he said it, which was more than he thought he’d do just last night.

And hey, maybe the flirting made things less tense actually. The bike ride to Keith’s house wasn’t nearly as nerve-wracking as it could have been. It was actually calming in a way. It gave Keith time to mentally prepare for having a hot boy over his house. Alone. Just the two of them. By themselves. One of them being like super gorgeous god levels of sexy.

Okay so maybe it wasn’t _calming_ per say but it was certainly enlightening.

Anyway, Keith’s anxiety boner aside, after parking his bike in the driveway, he led Shiro into his house. He didn’t think much of it as he turned the key to the front door and stepped inside. And thought even less as he stepped inside with Shiro and began to lock the door behind them. After all, this was his house. He’d be able to tell if something was wrong.

Though, he probably should have warned Shiro about the over-excitable 120 pound fluffy animal his family called a dog.

Keith heard a yelp and a crash from behind him, not unlike what had happened Monday. Startled, he turned around to see Shiro being licked to death by the family pet.

“Oh shit! Sorry Shiro,” Keith exclaimed, reaching to grab a hold of his dog’s harness. “Down boy! Get off of him; he’s not here for you!” From underneath the dog, Keith heard laughter.

“It’s fine,” Shiro said breathlessly, a big smile on his face. He helped Keith push the dog off of him. Shiro sat up and started to rub the oversized animal along its neck. “What kind of dog is it?”

“We aren’t sure. It might be a Saint Bernard or a Newfoundland judging by the fur. Though I think it might actually be part wolf or something.”

Shiro’s eyes lit up. “Really? That’s so cool! What’s this little guy’s name?”

Keith knelt down to pet the dog along its back, ignoring Shiro calling a roughly 55 kilogram dog ‘little.”Kosmo,” he answered. “Everyone calls him Kosmo.”

“Is that not his name,” Shiro asked.

Keith looked away, shoulders hunched. “I mean, I guess. It’s not what I chose.”

“Well what did you choose?” Keith could feel Shiro’s eyes on him, could hear the amusement in his voice.

“Uh n-nothing. I just kinda call him buddy or big guy or whatever…” Keith waited but Shiro never spoke, so he continued. “I was just waiting until he...well, until the right name came to me. It’s dumb.” Slowly, Keith looked up, expecting to see confusion or judgment on Shiro’s face but instead was met with a soft smile. Not like the contagious big grin he sometimes gave. This one was gentle, almost intimate

“I don't think it's dumb. It’s kind of sweet.” Shiro looked down, softly scratching the dog behind his ears, which was awarded with the heavy thump of a tail wagging. “You’re waiting for the perfect name to give him. I think in your own way you’re showing how much you care.”

Keith rubbed the fur around his dog’s neck, feeling his face heat up. “Thanks Shiro.”

“No problem. Come on,” Shiro said as he stood. “Let’s go do that project.” He reached a hand out to Keith. Keith took hold.

“Yeah,” Keith said breathlessly, allowing Shiro to pull him to his feet. “I’ll go get what we need.”

\- - - - - - - - - - 

Shiro thought he’d be more nervous about being alone with Keith at his house, but he was surprisingly calm. I mean, sure he was still nervous, but it wasn’t as overbearing. It was passive nervousness.

The two were in Keith’s room working on the construction of the Rube Goldberg device, and after a good three and a half hours, had made some good progress. Both on the project and with each other. Instead of complete tense silence, they managed to talk more comfortably with each other, even joke around a little.

Shiro was adjusting one of the elements of the device when he heard Keith groan. Looking over, he saw Keith face down sprawled out rug of his room.

Shiro chuckled. “Your mind officially fried?”

Keith groaned again. “So much movement and force and calculation and formulas. Who cares? It moves. Nothing else matters.” That got another laugh out of Shiro.

“Hey, but at least we’re almost done, right? We should probably call it a day.” Keith made a noise that sounded like agreement, but made no effort to move from his face down spot.

Shiro glanced around the room. He didn’t really look all that well when he’d first came in, not wanting to make Keith uncomfortable by scrutinizing his room. Though, with Keith becoming one with the floor, Shiro was free to at least look from where he sits.

The room was pretty bare. There was a bed, a dresser, a desk with a computer. On one of the walls hung a collection of hunting knives. Next to it, a cropped red leather jacket. It was well-worn from what Shiro could tell, stretched in a way looked broken-in with the coloring faded in some spots. Shiro wondered why Keith didn’t wear it to school. Maybe it was for special occasions. Shiro hoped he could see Keith in it one day. And no, that had nothing to do with how the length of the jacket would accentuate Keith’s waist. Nope. Nothing at all.

The last thing Shiro took note of was a black acoustic guitar leaned against the side of the bed. “Hey Keith,” Shiro spoke softly as to not startle Keith. “Do you play guitar?”

Keith grunted and rose to his feet. “Yeah, my dad taught me.” He walked across the room and pulled out his acoustic guitar. “You ever played before?”

“No, I'm not that good at instruments,” Shiro responded remembering his failed attempts a piano, violin, and clarinet as a child.

Keith smiled and began strumming a soft tune that sounded suspiciously like an acoustic version of My Heart Will Go On. Shiro figured as much and started singing quietly.

“Woah, you can really sing,” Keith exclaimed, stopping right before the chorus.

Shiro felt his face heat up. “Thanks! I used to sing with my grandparents all the time.” He gave a bashful look toward Keith and tried to reason with himself that the reddish tint to Keith’s face was exhaustion and not anything caused by him. “Do you ever sing?”

“No. I really only sing in the shower.” Shiro let an image of a shirtless, completely wet Keith flash in his mind. He shook his head, feeling a little guilty. Not enough to repent, but the thought was there.

“Would you keep singing if I kept playing,” Keith asked, fingers rubbing along the strings of his guitar idly. He kept his gaze away from Shiro

“Uh, yeah. Yeah,” Shiro stuttered, eyes wide and ears turning pink.  

And so the two gave a rousing performance of Celine Dion’s hit single. As Shiro sang and Keith played, they found themselves leaning into each other’s space. Shiro was delighted when Keith joined in on the song, taking the lower harmonies to accompany Shiro.

They were reaching the end. Keith’s strumming became slower and more powerful, Shiro adjusting his vocals to match pace. They stared at each other as they sang, smiles creeping up the corner of their mouths. Shiro found himself once again getting lost in Keith’s indigo eyes. They drew Shiro end as if they had their own gravity. Shiro leaned in closer without thinking. He swears he felt Keith do the same.

That’s when Keith’s door was slammed open.

The two boys jumped away from each other, turning their attention towards the door. There stood a tall, dark haired woman looking with a face that wasn’t completely innocent.

“Hey Keith. You studying,” the woman asked cheerfully. She turned to Shiro, an exaggerated look of surprise on her face. “Oh, hello there.”

“M-mom,” Keith exclaimed but his mother kept talking.

“You’re Shiro right. Keith has been talking about you.” She ignored Keith’s groan. “I’m Krolia. It’s nice to meet you.”

“N-nice to meet you too, ma’am,” Shiro responded automatically. Time to put those golden boy charms to work.

“It’s almost six. Don’t tell me you two have been working since school got out.” She shot a knowing look at Keith.

“Actually,” Keith began, voice tight, “we have. We only just took a break not ten minutes ago.”

“Oh Keith. Don’t push yourself that hard,” Krolia said genuinely. She turned to Shiro. “Keith can get a one track mind sometimes. I bet he didn’t even offer you anything to eat.”

“No its fine,” Shiro exclaimed. “I wouldn’t want to impose.”

“Oh it’s no trouble. Come on-- you two need to leave this room. Especially you Keith. Your uncles want to see you.” Krolia left the room but the doesn’t shut the door, like subtle encouragement for Keith to leave his room. Shiro thought that was really sweet.

Keith turned to Shiro. “Sorry about this,” he said. “Fair warning: there’s gonna be a lot of people out there.” He stood, motioning for Shiro to follow. Shiro watched as Keith took a steadying breath and led Shiro to the kitchen.

Shiro was not expecting a room full of giants.

There about a dozen people in the room. All very big, all very _tall._ They all introduced themselves, most of them as Keith’s uncles or some kind of relative. Shiro tried to keep track of all there names, but he knew in a few minutes he’ll forget everyone, except for maybe Keith’s parents.

Speaking of parents, Keith’s father, Akira, walked over to him holding out a drink. “Krolia said you two have been working for hours,” he began. He had a southern accent that made Shiro wonder if Keith ever had an accent like that. He hoped so. It would have been cute. “Hope Keith didn’t run you ragged.”

“No sir,” Shiro said taking the drink. “I’m sure I was the one who kept pushing to work more.”

Akira laughed. “I see. You’re just like Keith then. Always working.” Shiro smiled, unsure of what to say. On one hand, he knew small talk and being overly polite was usually best for meeting parents, but on the other hand, he didn’t want to come off as awkward as he felt. He wanted to keep up appearances.

Shiro wondered how this huge family, both in number, height and overall bigness, manage to rear Keith, a small, lean, sort of a loner-type. Not that Shiro was complaining. As far as he was concerned Keith was the perfect size. And he was going to stop those thoughts there and not start contemplating their size difference while surrounded by Keith’s family.

“And before you ask,” spoke a man ponytailed Shiro believed to be named Kolivan, “No, we aren’t all related. Just very close.”

“He was probably confused because of how scrawny Keith is,” a tall and very muscular girl named Zethrid said with a laugh. “I would be too.”

Oh. Well that kind of explained it.

They talked with Shiro for a while, mostly asking him about school and his future plans. It felt like they were interviewing him but Shiro wasn’t about to complain in a room full of people he had to almost strain his neck to look in the eye. He sometimes managed to catch a glimpse of Keith throughout the talking. Keith had a frown, but judging by his body language, Shiro could see he wasn’t on edge, maybe even relaxed.

That changed quickly.

“So, are you Keith’s boyfriend,” the one who had introduced herself as Ezor asked him. Shiro couldn’t help but freeze up a little. He noticed the smile on her face, but couldn’t tell with certainty if she was joking or not.

“O-oh uh, no. We’re just friends... I think,” Shiro added upon further reflection. He’d only known Keith for about 83.72 hours. (Not that he was counting). Were they really friends? He was only here because Slav assigned a bullshit project.

“Oh that’s a shame,” said someone. Shiro thought he remembered his name being Thace. “I think you two would be a great couple.”

“Yeah,” spoke someone else, turning to Shiro. Shiro was sure it was Ulaz but half an hour in he was reaching that point were names started to blur. “You’re a handsome young man. Don’t you think so Keith?”

Shiro tried not to take the mortified look Keith gave to heart. He knew it was because of the situation, and not because Keith didn’t find him attractive… Though, if that’s the case, that means Keith _does_ find Shiro attractive and Shiro isn’t quite sure how to process that information. I mean, Shiro knows he’s pretty handsome-- he looks in a mirror everyday, but having Keith think that… No, he wasn’t worthy. How could someone as hot as Keith think a regular human like himself was attractive? It just wasn’t possible. Therefore, by the transitive property of Shiro overthinking, Shiro decided that Keith did _not_ find him attractive and that look was mortification at the mere concept of finding Shiro appealing.

You know. Logic.

Keith didn’t respond to the question instead choosing to stuff his mouth with a handful Doritos and pet the wolfdog whose name may or may not be Kosmo. His face was bright red.

“Oh don’t be like that Keith,” Akira said with a laugh. “I’m sure Shiro thinks you’re cute too. Don’t you?” He gave Shiro a nudge with his elbow. Shiro felt his face heat up.

“Oh u-uh. I… I mean-”

Keith abruptly stood up, causing his Doritos to fall to the floor where his dog was waiting. “You know what? It’s getting late. I better get Shiro home before it gets too dark.” He ignored the laughter and playful indignation of his family. “Come on Shiro. I’m sure you’ve had enough of these people.” He started making his way to exit. Shiro smiled and said his goodbyes before hurrying after Keith.

“Sorry,” Keith began as he and Shiro walked to the driveway. “That was probably really overwhelming.”

“Yeah, I guess it was,” Shiro said. “But I think I enjoyed it. I’m not used to having such a big family.”

Keith let out a breath that could have been a laugh. “Yeah, me neither.” Shiro stared at Keith, hoping he would elaborate. Keith took the bait. “I only just found my mom two years ago. She hadn’t been in my life since I was a baby. It had been just me and my dad for sixteen years. Now suddenly, I have this huge family. It’s kinda crazy.”

“Do you like it,” Shiro asked softly.

“Yeah. It’s strange and new but I’m grateful. Family was always just me and Pop. But now it’s a lot more.” Keith looked up, eyes meeting Shiro’s. Shiro felt his heart skip a beat. Logically, he knew Keith wasn’t talking about him, but he couldn’t help the pull he felt in his chest as their eyes met in the soft afternoon light.

“YOU’D BETTER HEAD GET HIM HOME BEFORE IT GETS TOO DARK,” Krolia yelled from the front door, Shiro and Keith once again being startled from a pure, sweet, slightly sexually tense moment they were having.

Keith didn’t look irritated though. This time he laughed at the interruption. “Come on Shiro,” he said, eyes a little brighter than before, “Let’s get you home.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The song was gonna be Welcome to the Black Parade, but then I wasn't sure if enough people would know it. Then it was gonna be Never Gonna Give You Up but it was missing a certain amount of Drama(TM). So that's how we got the song that plays in my head whenever I watch The Black Paladins instead! :)


	4. It's Hard to Say That I'd Rather Stay Awake When I'm Asleep

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was gonna be a much longer chapter but... I got lazy. So uh, yeah. Don't decide to write a long-ass fanfic for a meme event kiddos.

Keith didn’t really want a repeat of the day before. Sure family was dope and all, but not being a red-faced mess in front of Shiro was doper (if that’s a word). At least it had some good points. They talked, sang together, had a moment™, and then literally rode off into the sunset. So it wasn’t _bad._ I mean, it wasn’t like Keith squeezed Shiro’s tiddies or anything. And it wasn’t like he was still thinking about that…

They were just so big and soft and round and firm and nice and--

But Keith really didn’t want to deal with his loving, caring, thoughtful family today. So he borrowed his dad’s truck, packed up the device, and hoped that Shiro would be okay going to the library again.

He caught Shiro at his locker again once the school day ended. Shiro turned to him, that signature smile that made Keith melt into a puddle of horniness and affection.

“Hi Keith,” Shiro said, closing his locker. “I think I’m just about ready to go.”

“Yeah, about that,” Keith began. “Do you maybe want to go to the library today? I kinda don’t want to deal with that fiasco I call a family.”

Shiro laughed and Keith tried not to look so infatuated. Or aroused. “I mean that’s fine. I don’t mind.” Shiro paused, a considering look crossing his face. “Unless you’d be fine with coming over my house?” He rubbed the back of his neck, as if he was unsure if he should have asked that.

Keith, on the other hand, was very glad about Shiro’s offer. “Yeah! That’s fine.” He hoped he didn’t sound too excited.  “I mean, yeah. It’s cool. Just show me the way.” Yeah. Chill cool. He’s just going over Shiro’s house. In his room… To work on a school project. That’s all.

No big deal.

Once again, they took his dad’s truck to help transport the project. Keith wished they didn’t have to though. He kinda missed feeling Shiro up against him. He was Big. And Big was very good. Especially when it came to Shiro.

“It’s only me and my grandfather here,” Shiro said as he led Keith into his house. “So it’ll be a lot less hectic.”

Keith thought about asking where his parents where but that felt more like a level five friendship thing. They were only at like level two. Maybe not even that. Level one and a half, maybe three quarters because of the moment™ they had the previous night.

“Takashi, is that you,” a very old sounding voice called as soon as they entered.

“Yes, granddad,” Shiro responded while locking the door. “I brought Keith with me. We’re going to work on our project.”

There was a bit of rattling before an old man with short white hair shuffled into the hall. He smiled not unlike the one Shiro gave. “Ah, so you’re the handsome young man my grandson has been talking about.”

“G-grandad,” Shiro exclaimed. Keith tried not to look elated at the fact that apparently Shiro had probably maybe possibly described Keith as at least some form of not ugly maybe even decently attractive to his grandfather.

Listen, it’s the small victories.

“It’s wonderful to meet you Keith,” Grandpa Shiro said with a slight bow. “I trust you’ve been taking good care of Takashi?”

“Uh, yeah. I mean uh, yes sir? Great care. I guess.” Keith knew he wasn’t gonna win any awards for being a smooth talker but he was a little distracted with thinking about taking good care of Shiro. In a completely nonsexual, completely platonic friendly (or maybe acquaintancey) way. Nope, nothing about Shiro’s soft comforting pecs.

Keith did not know why Shiro’s tits were the thing that kept popping up in his mind.

Okay well he did but he didn’t really feel like horniness was helping his case here.

“Well, Keith and I have a lot of things to take care of right now,” Shiro said, his voice tight and ears that really cute shade of pink they always turn. Keith tried not to let those words go to his dick. (He didn’t try hard, but he tried.) “I’ll see you again at dinner grandpa.”

Shiro’s grandfather gave an amused chuckle. “Alright then Takashi. I’ll leave you two to work.” Shiro gave his thanks and began leading Keith to his room.

“Now I think I know how you felt,” Shiro muttered once they were inside.

Keith laughed, he hoped not so hard that it was weird or obvious that he liked Shiro or anything. Just a casual friendly laugh. “You don’t know the half of it.”

Shiro gave his own sheepish laugh that warmed Keith’s heart and soul and other things. “Yeah. Come on. Let’s get this thing finished.”

\- - - - - - - - - -

Shiro didn’t remember falling asleep. His eyes slowly opened, looking around his darkened room. He also didn’t remember turning off the light. How strange. He started to stretch when he noticed a heavy weight on his chest. He looked down and nearly died of a heart attack because, would you fucking believe it, Keith motherfucking Kogane was lying asleep on his chest.

Shiro stilled. How the fuck did this happen. He couldn’t even remember falling asleep, much less cuddling up with Keith. Was the universe out to kill him? That had to be it, for how could anyone justify Shiro ending up in such a compromising position.

...Well he couldn’t move now. It was like if a cat fell asleep on his chest. A big cat. Avery pretty cat. A pretty cat with messy black hair and tight ripped jeans and a cute little sleeping face and a delicate but strong body and tiny waist and a nice ass and---

Shiro decided to move on before he had a bigger problem on his hands.

He didn’t know if he should wake up Keith. He just looked so cute asleep. Even with the tiny bit a drool starting to run down the corner of his mouth. And what if he woke up and saw how he was lying on top of Shiro and was horrified? He would probably think Shiro was just trying to take advantage of him… Though Keith did cop of a feel of sorts at the library. Oh yeah, Shiro was aware. Even though it was probably an accident (not that Shiro didn’t like it though).

Shiro considered going back to sleep. But he couldn’t sleep now. And he was a terrible liar and he couldn’t pretend. Keith would wake up and be all like:

“Oh Shiro! I’m so sorry. How improper of me! I fell asleep on top of you!”

And then Shiro would say “O-o-o-oh. K-keith! I-you’ve done nothing wrong!”

And the Keith would say: “Do you mean you knew this was happening?!?!?!”

And Shiro would have nothing to say. Because he couldn’t lie to an angel. He wasn’t immoral.

And then Keith would yell and push him away and run out the door and out of Shiro’s life and tell everyone how he was such a pervert praying on poor defenseless Keith (y’know the one who rode motorcycles and carried hunting knives on him) while the poor boy was asleep and then Shiro would have to leave town before the mob chased him out and then get a new name and--

Oh God! Keith’s waking up! Shit! Shiro needed to react!

So he panicked and played asleep.

\- - - - - - - - - -

Keith knew that life wasn’t as cruel as he thought when he woke up enveloped in the plushness of Shiro’s supple, tender breasts. It was still cruel though, because Keith was in his right mind to _not_ squeeze them. Besides, this time Shiro was asleep.

Keith sat up, hoping to slip off of Shiro without waking him up. Unfortunately the usually graceful Keith kneed Shiro in the nutsack causing the man to yell out in pain.

“Fuck, s-sorry Shiro,” Keith yelled. He wondered if he should maybe rub the area to help him feel better.

Upon further introspection, Keith decided that as lovely as that sounded, it was probably a bad idea.

“Y-you’ve done nothing wrong,” Shiro said, voice about ten octaves higher. “I should’ve woken you up.”

“Oh, you knew?”

Keith was confused by the absolutely terrified look on Shiro’s face. “I-well...yes. I didn’t want to wake you. You looked so peaceful...” He trailed off, unable to look Keith in the eye

Keith felt his face heat up. Shiro was definitely the sweetest mortal god that ever existed. Keith would have woken his own self up. “Thanks Shiro.”

“You’re welcome.” There was a short, comforting silence that followed as the two quietly enjoyed the other’s company.

That’s when they both suddenly became aware of the fact Keith was still nearly straddled on top of Keith, Shiro’s hands resting just above his butt.

Neither really knew how to attack this situation™. Keith thought that if he moved he’d make things awkward because Shiro’s hand was on him and he was over him and it wasn’t quite as simple as standing up and moving because of how close they were… But if he just stayed there things would get more and more weird because he wasn’t in like the most relaxed position and he was just kinda hovering and he was sure Shiro had noticed that he had been in this kneeling leaning over position for long enough.

Luckily, Grandpa Shirogane was there to save the day.

He pushed open the door slowly. “Takashi, dinner’s almost ready. Would Keith-” He stopped as he observed the position those two were in. He gave a cheerful chuckle. “Oh. I didn’t mean to interrupt you two.”

“G-grandad, I-”

“No, no. You’re eighteen now Takashi,” Grandpa Shiro said with a laugh. “I remember when I was your age. Couldn’t keep ‘em off me.” He winked and left the room, closing the door.

Shiro and Keith refused to meet each other’s eye. Keith rescinded his statement that the universe wasn’t that cruel. The universe was a cold, emotionless bastard who had never felt emotion and could never fathom the basic moral values of life and virtue and all things sacred.

You know, because it embarrassed him in front of Shiro’s Grandad.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just realized that the way this is set up, Shiro is a few months younger than Keith. How's that for an age swap au?


	5. Call Me Maybe

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't actually have anything to say but I've had notes at the beginning in all the other chapters and I value consistency.

Today was the day. The day the Project™ was due. The day his physics grade would be determined. And more importantly… the last day Shiro would get to have sweet awkward moments with Keith. Shiro swore he heard the laments of angels.

How would Shiro go on without those glowing purple orbs of light illuminating his life like they had been for the past week. Life just wasn’t sustainable.

They’d through some miracle of the heavens or something managed to finish up everything the night before. Keith had stayed late, to almost eleven, and Shiro would’ve offered for Keith to stay over but uh… he decided maybe they shouldn’t sleep around each other after _that_ happened.

Anyway today the two were set to present their Rube Goldberg Device. It wasn’t as complex as Shiro would have liked, you know with having to make it in a _fucking week_ (fuck you Slav), but it was done. And it worked. So fuck you again Slav.

Shiro was surprised to find Keith already in the classroom. Not that he expected to be late, but Shiro had arrived much earlier than most today. Keith didn’t see to know what to do with himself. He sat on top of his desk, knees bent, staring out the window like the protagonist of an anime. Shiro thought it suited him.

“Good morning Keith,” Shiro greeted after setting down their project in front of the classroom.

“Oh, hey Shiro.” Keith sounded… sad. That was not allowed. Illegal. How dare Keith feel sad?

“Are you okay,” Shiro asked.

Keith stared out the window a bit before answering. “Yeah...yeah. Everything’s fine.” Shiro was quiet, hoping to encourage Keith to continue. It worked. “It’s just… it’s finally over, y’know?”

Normally anyone talking about a project being over would sound happy, relieved maybe, but Keith sounded almost mournful. Was he… sad that it was over? But...why? Why would he be sad about finally being done with working with Shiro on this dumb project? Who could fathom? Maybe he was just nervous about the presentation part.

Shiro asks as much. Keith shakes his head. “No Shiro. I told you, it’s nothing.”

Shiro wasn’t the best with emotions, but he could tell that whatever was bothering Keith, the dark haired boy (angel) didn’t want to talk about it. He probably didn’t consider Shiro a close enough friend to share such deep, meaningful, and personal troubles with him. Shiro thought himself a fool for thinking Keith could feel that way about him. As in platonically. You know like good platonic friends.

But that’s not to say that Keith could ever feel anything romantic towards Shiro! Just that Keith probably didn’t regard him as anything super close. Like really close friends. After all, they had only just met Monday. Besides. It’s not as if Keith, a literal dangerous mystical fairy angel cherub being of beauty and rebellion would ever feel something towards someone as mortal and nerdy as Shiro. It was just impossible.

Still, Shiro would provide his undying and unwavering support for Keith. “If you say so Keith. I’ll respect that. Let’s do this project thing one last time, right?” Shiro smiled, hoping to put Keith at ease, though judging by the spaced out look and reddening of his face, it didn’t seem to work. Maybe Keith was just really distracted by this thing that was bothering him. Shiro hoped he wasn’t the cause of the distress.

Keith looked over to Shiro, pulling his lips into a tight smile. It was a mere facsimile of the smile that stole Shiro’s heart and maybe him question his virtues, but it was still the most stunning expression he’d ever seen. He cleared his throat before speaking. “Yeah. One last time.”

Shiro and Keith were of course the first to present (because everyone else is irrelevant but don’t tell them that). Their machine worked perfectly. A true testament to everything that was good and physics-y. Keith talked expertly about the design and Shiro followed suit with the calculations. All together, the two were an amazingly dynamic duo. The class clapped, all amazed by the overwhelming showing of mastery over physics and the chemistry (heh heh) Shiro and Keith had with each other. Surely they were now intimidated to give their own performances. Shiro and Keith had done it. It was a universal consensus. They had performed the perfect project presentation.

Well, it was a universal consensus for everyone except for Slav.

“Shiro, why would you use a ramp component _after_ a pulley based element? It would have made more sense to be in that order.”

Shiro could feel his blood pressure rising. “The purpose of these machines is to be creative. It was an unusual method and ended up working perfectly.” He tried, and probably fail, to keep his voice neutral.

Slav shook his head and Shiro nearly launched his device at Slav. “But that is not how you do it. It isn’t the _correct_ way. There was a very high chance that such an order would not work. And there was a chance the machine would have broken all together and killed us all. I expect you to know these basic concepts Shiro. Your grade will greatly suffer from repercussions.

Shiro had come to expect things like this. Slav’s class was an uphill battle. And even though Shiro could feel the veins in his head about to manifest as real beings and banish Slav into a nightmare dimension, he took a deep breath and resigned himself to his fate.

That was until Keith, the literal angel in leather, decided to speak his mind.

“Shiro worked his ass off to get this dumbass project done. And it was done _right._ Shiro’s probably the best, most perfect student you’ve ever taught! Hold him to a high standard sure, but don’t punish him for not knowing all of your bullshit rules.”

Slav stared wide-eyed at Keith. Shiro did too, his heart (and other, more confusing places) filling with affection for the purple eyed man in front of him.

“Well...maybe I’ll rethink it,” Slav said.

“Maybe,” Keith questioned, his voice lowering to a growl that probably shouldn’t be sexy given the circumstances but Shiro wasn’t always in control of his arousal.

“I-I will...rethink it,” Slav said. “Okay, err, good job. Next pair please.”

Keith smiled triumphantly and Shiro was thankful (so so thankful) that he was blessed enough to see that super sexy confidence on Keith. And yeah, he was thankful for Keith standing up for him and being a good friend (acquaintance?) and just being super cool but more importantly Keith was hot and that made Shiro happy.

Among... _other_ things. 

\- - - - - - - - - -

Keith was feeling pretty fucking proud of himself. It wasn’t unusual for him to speak up for people, Keith held himself to a high moral code, but seeing the mystified look on Shiro’s face was the best reward he had ever gotten. Shiro had looked so cute. Like what the fuck? How can someone as Big and handsome as him look like a fucking baby? Not that Keith was complaining but he was only a man!

Anyway, Keith was sitting with Hunk and Romelle in their Home Economics class (that’s a traditional high school thing right?) trying to keep the smile off his face. He must have been failing judging by the conspiratorial smiles the two wore.

“Whatcha thinkin’ about, Keith,” Hunk asked amusedly.

“Yeah Keith,” Romelle started, leaning over into Keith’s space. “I never see you smile this much in school.”

“Nothing,” Keith muttered, fixing his face into what he hoped was a neutral expression.

“Mhm,” Romelle said while poking Keith’s face. “What are you really thinking about? Do you finally have a date to prom”

“Probably about Shiro,” Hunk said with a laugh. “Shiro’s definitely been on his mind all week?”

“Aww,” Romelle exclaimed a bit too loud. Whatever, it’s the end of the school year. It’s not like it mattered. “Did you ask Shiro to prom?”

Keith felt his face turn red. “W-what? No! W-why would I do that?”

The two stared at Keith, unamused.

“Keith please,” Romelle began. “You’re not _really_ asking that?”

“Yes, I’m _really_ asking that,” Keith looked down at his desk, picking at the wood that was beginning to fall off. “Besides, why would he even say yes.” He said that quietly, to himself. He doubted Hunk and Romelle even heard him.

“Well, I mean, he’s hot. You’re hot,” he heard Hunk say so apparently Keith didn’t talk quiet enough. “Do what hot people do: go to prom together.”

Keith frowned and stared out a window. Obviously Shiro would never want to go to prom with him. I mean, it was such late notice. Prom was tomorrow! And besides, he was just Keith. Shiro was a literal god. A deity who was sent to the heavens to bless Keith’s life for a week. Keith didn’t deserve any of that. And while he was happy he got the chance to experience what it was like to be in the presence of an extraplanar entity, it almost hurt to get a taste of something he could never keep, could never experience again or replicate.

Romelle, bless her soul, decided to interrupt Keith’s lamenting. “Oh, I get it,” she began, “You don’t know what genre this is!”

Hunk nodded solemnly in agreeance while Keith just stared on confused. Romelle continued. “You think this is some tragic, coming-of-age, manic pixie dream boy story or something when you’re actually in a romantic comedy (comedy used loosely here).”

Hunk patted Keith on the back. “Yeah buddy. You seem to think that Shiro just magically appeared out of nowhere to sexually frustrate you, but remember: there are two sides to every story. Or three. Sometimes more. Though there might actually be one side to--”

“What Hunk is getting at,” Romelle begins, “is that Shiro is probably experiencing something in his own mind. You don’t know what it is, so just go for. What have you go to lose?”

Keith wanted to say that he had his dignity to lose but that died on Monday if not long before. He also wanted to say his peace of mind, but judging by his emo-adjacent bemoaning he probably didn’t have that either.

And it wasn’t like he was gonna see Shiro again after this week (ignoring the fact they had a class together). So, huh, he actually _didn’t_ have much to lose.

Who’da thought?

“Ooh, I have an idea,” Hunk exclaimed. Keith looked at him skeptically. “Oh come on, don’t make that face. It’s great! I’m sure Romelle’s gonna agree too.”

Not that that was a particularly encouraging sentiment, but nonetheless, Keith lent himself to the mercy of the two people he called his best friends… And the end result may shock you.

It probably won’t. 

\- - - - - - - - - -

Shiro walked down the hall swiftly, purposefully. Today, Shiro was on a mission. He wasn’t going to wait around anymore. Not today. No. This time, he was gonna find Keith. He was gonna find Keith...and ask him to prom.

Shocker, I know. Completely out of left field. But hear me out, it’ll all make sense real soon (maybe).

After spending the better part of an hour being tormented by Matt and Allura, Shiro had to make a decision. Have the two completely ridicule him for the rest of his life and probably at his funeral about not asking a guy to the most important event of anyone’s life ever… or ask Keith to prom.

Shiro tried to reason with them. Prom was tomorrow, and what if Keith already had a date, and he had nothing to wear, and how the hell was he gonna ask Keith, a literal angel in a leather jacket with bluish purple eyes that sparkled like the night sky at dusk. Unfortunately they were having none of it. Even though Shiro was sure that last point was the most valid argument of all.

But no, Matt and Allura weren’t letting their friend get out of this one. With a quick pep talk, a shot of a drink Matt said was entirely legal, and the promise of Allura taking him to an Italian food buffet, Shiro was on his way. He was gonna ask Keith to prom.

And probably run away when Keith laughed in his face at the nerve, the gall, the absolute _audacity_ of Shiro, a peasant and gremlin, to ask Keith, a goddamn archfey celestial lovechild, to prom.

Wait, Keith would never laugh at him. He was kind and loving. He would reject Shiro so gently it would have been better than acceptance.

Shiro took this absolute slander of Keith’s character as a sign that he wasn’t worthy and was about to just end his mission go home, however the universe just _loves_ to fuck with the man known as Takashi Shirogane.

“S-Shiro,” called the raspy, warm, smokey, desert like gruffness that was Keith’s voice. Shiro turned to where Keith was walking down the hall towards him, hands stuffed deep in his pockets.

“H-hey Keith,” Shiro responded. Keith didn’t say anything. With his eyes locked firmly on the ground, Keith handed Shiro a folded up piece of paper and a pen. He stuffed his hands right back into his pockets, pointedly looking away from Shiro.

“Oh uh…” Shiro trailed off. He unfolded the piece of paper and what he saw ended his life, revived him, and the murdered him all over again.

Do you want to go to prom with me?

Circle

Yes      No

 

Shiro felt his entire face warm. His heart beat a little faster (probably just getting restarted after dying a few times). He stared, wide eyed and open mouthed at the little note written in Keith’s thin, smooth handwriting. Keith was asking him to prom! What heaven blessed timeline did he get transported to?

Shiro had to respond. Keith was right there, his body language tense and guarded. Obviously this had been so hard on Keith and Shiro was proud of the man for going out on a limb. Shiro needed to comfort him. Let Keith know and reassure him that of course Shiro would go to prom with him.

That’s why Shiro circled yes and handed the paper back to Keith.

Keith had looked bewildered seeing the paper being handed back. He had a solemn smile that looked way to sad to be considered a smile.

“I figured as much,” Keith said sadly tucking the letter into his jacket pocket. “Sorry to bother you Shiro. It was nice getting to know you this week.” As he started to walk away, an overwhelming sense of confusion began to overtake Shiro.

“W-wait Keith,” Shiro called. “What are you talking about?”

“The note. It was a stupid idea. I shouldn’t have wasted your time.”

“Keith! I don’t get it.” Shiro was so confused now. “Did you not actually want to go to prom with me?”

It was Keith’s turn to look confused. “Of course I did. But I should have figured you wouldn’t want the same. Don’t feel guilty. I understand.”

“...But I do want to go. Look at the note.”

Keith pulled out the paper from his pocket and read it, his eyes widening as the information sunk in. “Wait. Y-you...you want to go with me?”

“Of course,” Shiro exclaimed. “I’m trying to figure out in what reality I wouldn’t! Why would you assume I didn’t?”

Keith's face turned a very cute shade of red. “Well, you’re _you_. You’re pretty amazing Shiro. I’m not all that great.” Before Shiro could get out his 57 slide powerpoint on why that was incorrect, Keith spoke again. “Besides, I thought you’d just say it, not hand back the note.”

Shiro opened his mouth then closed it again. “Oh...I guess that would make more sense.” Keith giggled (he fucking giggled what the hell he’s adorable!) making Shiro’s heart once again need a defibrillator. Shiro laughed too in spite of his ever impending heart failure due to Keith.

“So…” Keith began, “I guess we’re going to prom together?”

Shiro smiled. “Of course. Call you later?”

“Anytime.” This time Keith’s smile was a lot happier making Shiro’s heart officially give out. “See you later Shiro.” Keith walked away, leaving Shiro to stare fondly after him and totally not stare at his ass.

It was at this point Shiro realized that he and Keith never actually exchanged numbers. God, he really was a gay disaster.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lol, what's pacing? Who's ever heard of characterization? What the fuck is a comma? Questions the universe will never have an answer to.


	6. Never Gonna Give You Up, Never Gonna Let You Down

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let's wrap this bad boy up. :)

Keith picked up Shiro on his motorcycle because goddammit if he was gonna show up at prom with Shiro at the last minute, he wasn’t gonna do it in a pickup truck. No, he was gonna be all sexy-like on his bright red motorcycle. He even pulled out the red leather jacket that brought out his waist. And he was damn sure gonna get to feel Shiro’s big ass hands around his waist again. Even if it was a matter of Shiro not wanting a painful death by falling off the back of a motorcycle. Look the details aren’t important.

Shiro wasn’t dressed all too fancy. Not that Keith was expecting him to since he just asked Shiro to prom yesterday. It was just a simple white shirt and gray vest and slacks. And you know, a goddamn leather jacket that fit him way too nicely.

Keith couldn’t help but stare. Shiro wore that jacket so well. Was Shiro secretly a bad boy? Was he actually the rebellious one. Did he just put on the nerdy golden boy persona at school? Shiro had said he’d ridden motorcycles before, without a helmet no less. Was Shiro actually some super cool rule-breaking smooth-talking badass?

“Hey Keith,” Shiro greeted. “It’s so good to see you! I mean, I knew you were coming, unless you were gonna stand me up… Not that I thought that! I just mean, I like seeing you. Yeah…”

Okay so maybe not _smooth-talking_ but perhaps the other things were true.

“It’s good to see you too Shiro,” Keith said trying not to smile too big

“Do you mind coming in. My granddad wants pictures.”

“That’s fine. My parents actually want us to come by for pictures too.” Keith let out a laugh at Shiro’s alarmed look. “Don’t worry, it’s just them this time.”

“Oh… okay,” Shiro responded. Keith swears he heard him mutter ‘thank god’ under his breath but he wasn’t gonna call Shiro out on it.

Things went quickly with Shiro’s grandfather. He didn’t embarrass Shiro too badly. After a little urging them to get closer and constantly asking Shiro if he thought Keith was handsome, they were finished with pictures.

“Oh, and Takashi,” Mr. Shirogane called as they walked out the door. “Here.” He reached into his pocket and fished out a small container before placing it gently in Shiro’s hands. “I was wondering when I would have to give this to you. Now seems like the perfect time.” He smiled affectionately at Shiro.

“Aww, thanks granddad,” Shiro said, returning the smile. “I’ll see you tomorrow, okay.”

“Bye Takashi.” Mr. Shirogane saw the two boys out before closing the door.

Keith felt his heart warm at the sweet display. “What did he give you,” he asked.

“I don’t know. Let’s see.” Keith got a little closer to watch Shiro as he opened the lid on the box. Shiro unhooked the metal latched and flipped open the box. He and Keith both peered inside, curious to know what his Shiro’s grandfather had given him with such warmth and what was inside will blow your fucking mind.

Condoms. It was condoms.

Keith felt his face just straight up burn. Like it was actually on fire. What the fuck? Shiro’s grandfather, his grandfather now, gave them a box of condoms. On prom night. What made him think _that’s_ what’s gonna happen tonight? Not that Keith was like opposed or anything. I mean, it was _Shiro_ and he was just a young man with desires. But, it had only been like five days since they met! That’s like really fast right? Again, not that Keith wouldn’t want to but etiquette… You know maybe that wouldn’t be such a bad idea after all.

Unfortunately however, because it was a sixty something year old man who had given them a box (like a real ass box what the hell) if condoms and not an idea either Shiro or Keith had, it was kind of mortifying.

Shiro let out a laugh. A very nervous, broken, lifeless laugh. “He’s just playing around.” Shiro didn’t seem too convinced. Neither was Keith and that was the part that was getting to him. Mr. Shirogane seemed so genuine when handing over a box of condoms like it was some family heirloom. It was like he was actually expecting something to happen. Or at least making sure Shiro was prepared if something happened. Not that anything was going to happen.

(But again, not that Keith would mind if it did.)

Keith let out his own laugh. “Yeah...let’s go. To my house. S-so that my parents can you know. Take pictures and all.”

“Y-yeah, let’s.” The two boys hopped onto Keith’s motorcycle, letting the short ride to Keith’s house be as silent and awkward as ever.

Photos at Keith’s house took a little longer. It would have been a welcome distraction from the whole condom issue, but unfortunately it only seemed to exacerbate it.

“Put your hand around his waist, Keith,” Krolia scolded. “Goodness, it’s like you’re afraid to touch him.”

Keith frowned before very slowly and lightly placing a hand around Shiro’s waist and holy shit. Shiro’s waist was like, small? Hello? It was like Shiro had the golden ratio of bodies. A perfect shoulder to hip ratio. Perfect Dorito proportions. Wow.

“Keith,” Akira called, shaking Keith out of his stupor before he could start fantasizing anymore about Dorito Shiro. “That’s no way to take a picture. At least look like you’re enjoying yourself.”

Oh he was. But not in a way he wanted his parents to be aware of.

Keith shook his head before giving his best smile. He wasn’t exactly _good_ at smiling on demand, but he wasn't worried. Sure his parents were taking pictures so that they could capture their son’s big moment going to prom, but literally anyone else would be distracted by Shiro’s Emmy award winning smile and put together outfit, and really just his whole Shiro-ness.

A few pictures and a lot of teasing later, his parents were done with their mini photoshoot. Akira stepped back. “Look at you Keith. Where did the years go? All grown up and going to prom.” He smiled affectionately.

Krolia nodded in agreement. “Of course, he shouldn’t have waited until the absolute last minute to decide to go. You must have been pretty upset Shiro.”

Shiro, who had been a little checked out since his house, jolted in surprise. “Oh, no ma’am. Keith’s not at fault here. I’m responsible too.”

Akira laughed. “You’re a good one, Shiro. But you too sure did ride the line. Pretty quiet about the whole things too.”

Keith tilted his head. “Huh?”

“Really,” Krolia said in agreeance with...whatever they were talking about. “Neither of us even knew you had a boyfriend, Keith.”

Keith froze, his face once again blooming into a fierce shade of red. “Uhhh, what?!” He suddenly was very aware of his hand on Shiro’s waist. “I don’t-- we’re not-- That’s not uh…”

His parents gave him twin looks of confusion.

“I-I think what Keith means,” Shiro begins, voice shaky, “is that we aren’t together or anything. We only just met this week. Monday actually.”

Krolia and Akira’s looks of confusion turned to shock. “Really,” Akira exclaimed. “You only just met on Monday? The way you two act...You just give off a feeling of having known each other longer”

“I guess you probably won’t need condoms then, huh,” Krolia said seemingly to herself.

Keith’s brain suddenly rebooted at the word condom. “Okay! We’re leaving. See you tomorrow!” He grabbed Shiro’s arm and headed out the door, very pointedly ignoring their laughter and asking for confirmation on the condom thing. No, parents. They were more than prepared should anything happen. Not that anything _would_ happen.

But again, not like Keith’s gonna be opposed to anything happening. 

\- - - - - - - - - -

 Shiro was sure that he was the universe’s plaything. On one hand, he was given the chance to go to prom with a literal angel of the lord. On the other hand condoms…

He was all for safe sex, and the thought of doing... _things_ with Keith made him feel things, but this was too soon right. PRobably. Shiro didn’t know the etiquette for having sex with preternatural beings of sexiness and leather.

He was also sure because while Shiro would be able to brag to his great grandchildren about the night he went to prom with Keith, this meant that the entire senior class would see him with Keith at prom. Not that Shiro was ashamed, that wasn’t the probably in any universe. No, it was the fact that Shiro, who by his own admission was probably best known for having no less than a 4.0 and khakis pulled up to his chest, rolled up to prom on the back of a bright red motorcycle being driven by Keith “knife-carrying, class-skipping, ripped jeans to prom” Kogane. People were going to stare. People _were_ staring, and it was making Shiro a little self conscious.

He looked over to Keith who seemed to be sharing his feelings. Keith’s shoulders were hunched, eyes hidden underneath the hair that had escaped his ponytail.

“Hey, are you alright,” Shiro asked him.

Keith tensed even more before looking at Shiro. “Yeah. Just didn’t expect everyone to be staring.”

Shiro let out a laugh, hoping to lighten the mood a little. “Yeah, I hear that.” He’s quiet, debating on whether or not he should continue. Shiro eventually decides ‘fuck it’ and says what most people would probably consider to be not that much. However, to Shiro, it took a lot. “We do make a strange couple though, but a good one.”

Shiro tried not to pat himself on the back for the cute little blush that appears across Keith’s cheeks. “Yeah. Thanks Shiro.” The smile Keith gives him is worth the anxiety he felt over saying something so close to implying that they were _together_ together. Right now, they were just friends. Just friends at prom. Enjoying each other’s platonic company.

Unfortunately though, as much as Shiro enjoyed Keith’s platonic company, their night didn’t get much better. People kept staring, even the chaperones were curious as to why they were here together. Some bold, and rude, people even asked Shiro if he had lost a bet. The nerve! Keith was hot. If anything, Keith was probably the one who had lost a bet.

Shiro was also reminded of why he didn’t go to parties. The music was loud, the people were sweaty and touchy, the food was bad, anyone you knew was grinding on their date or in huge groups of people you weren’t even sure went to your school. There was no place to just sit and chill and not have your ears destroyed by the six-hundredth song you’ve never heard before. All in all, Shiro was kind of regretting going to prom.

(A/N (yo, throwback to when _this_ was a thing): And no, I’m not just projecting my own lackluster prom experience onto Shiro and Keith’s. Heheh, what? I’d never)

Okay, anyway, Shiro and Keith were both standing up against a wall, as far away from the dancefloor and music as they could get. Shiro could feel Keith’s eyes on him, but couldn’t bring himself to look his way. Shiro was being a really bad date. Keith was probably bored out of his mind. Unfortunately, Shiro couldn’t think of a way to make this better. He wanted to give Keith a good time… Like prom-wise… Like at prom with what that involves… Oh fuck it, like nonsexually, okay! Shiro was not going to have sex with Keith tonight. Or probably ever if things kept going like this.

Shiro finally worked up to courage to look at Keith. He was about to apologize when Keith spoke first. “Let’s go.”

Shiro felt his heart sink. “K-keith. I’m sorry I--”

Keith took ahold of Shiro’s hand, leading him out of the building. “Come on. I know something that’s a lot more fun than this.”

Shiro’s mind briefly (very briefly okay, he wasn’t weird or anything) wandered to the box of condoms resting in his leather jacket. Keith didn’t mean… Of course not. Not that Shiro was against it. But they were prepared. In case something that wasn’t going to happen happened.

“Where are we going Keith,” Shiro asked as they approached the parking lot. He was almost struggling to keep up with Keith’s fast pace.

Keith slowed to a stop and looked back, an impish grin on his face. “Just trust me. It’s a surprise.”

Shiro couldn’t help but stare at Keith’s eyes. In the low light they somehow looked both blue and purple at the same time. Blurple. Maybe indigo. Blurple doesn’t sound all too romantic. Shiro tightened his grip on Keith’s glove-clad hand before nodding.

Keith shot him a smile that was almost as dazzling as the sky-like indigo (blurple) of his eyes. “Good,” Keith said. He pulled Shiro towards him and the two continued their trek, only Keith knowing where they were going. 

\- - - - - - - - - -

Keith went entirely out on a limb when he took Shiro’s hand and decided to ditch prom. He had seen how uncomfortable Shiro had been, and instead of sticking to his guns and forcing Shiro to stay and have a miserable time, he decided to do things the Keith way. He was currently on his bike, taking Shiro to somewhere special. A secret place. A place Keith had planned to go if he’d had a boyfriend long before prom.

It took a good forty-five minutes, but unlike their other rides together, this one was far less tense. Keith pulled onto an abandoned dirt road that was starting to be overgrown by the surrounding shrubbery. He drove until they came upon a clearing. He pulled to a stop at the end of the dirt path.

“You didn’t take me out here to kill me, did you,” Shiro said with a laugh. “‘Cause I’ll warn you, I put up a pretty good fight.” Keith couldn’t help but smile.

“No, you’re jacked. I’d probably break my hand if I fought you.” Keith went around the back of his motorcycle, pulling out a blanket from the rear storage box. He spread it out across the ground before motioning for Shiro to sit.

“If I’d’ve known prom would be that shitty,” Keith started pulling his knees to his chest, “I would’ve brought more supplies. Like food, something to drink, or another blanket or something.”

“I don’t mind,” Shiro said, leaning back on the blanket. Keith tried not to freak out as Shiro leaned more into his space. “This is nice.” Shiro turned his head up to the sky.

That was the whole reason Keith came out here. Here, away from the lights and the noise, the stars were bright and clear. It was a stunning sight and while usually Keith would be staring at the sky, tonight his eyes were locked on Shiro.

“Beautiful, isn’t it,” Shiro said. His eyes were on Keith.

Keith’s expression turned bashful but he kept his eyes on Shiro. “Yeah, it really is.” It was Shiro’s turned to look coy.

The two stayed like that in silence, maybe an hour, maybe two, sights switching between the expanse of stars in the sky and each other.

“You know,” Keith began after a lot of contemplating, “my dad used to tell me stories. About the universe and the stars and galaxies.” Shiro looked at him, urging Keith to continue. “He told me one story in particular that always stood out to me. About how when the universe first began, there were two souls. And those souls were constantly being split apart, but they always find each other. And it keeps going like that. The souls are separated, forced apart, but they always find their way back to each other. True soulmates, my dad called them.”

Keith laughed self-consciously upon seeing Shiro’s reverent stare. “Staring out into space always gets me philosophical. I don’t know why that story popped into my head.

Shiro was silent for a while, still making Keith jittery with his glance. “You know,” he began softly as if someone else could be listening. “It does feel like I’ve known you longer than six days.”

“I feel that too.”

They leaned in closer to each other, being drawn in like binary planets. “You have very pretty eyes, Keith,” Shiro whispered.

“So do you,” Keith breathed. “Like starlight.”

It’s unsure who moved first, the only fact being that their lips had lock upon each other… Sorta. Their noses were smooshed together, and their lips weren’t all the way connected. It was also very obvious that Shiro had never kissed anyone before, but dammit! Keith didn’t fucking care! He was kissing motherfucking Takashi Shirogane! Who the fuck cared if he didn’t know what to do with his hands, or if he was drooling a little or that he kept clicking his teeth loudly. Keith sure as fuck didn’t!

Keith felt that same spark of energy, felt those same fireworks he felt on that day they’d accidentally knocked into each other. When they’d first locked eyes on each other.

And holy shit, it felt amazing!

They finally pulled away from each other, both panting lightly.

“Wow,” Keith spoke intelligently.

“Yeah, that was, woah,” Shiro said, pupils blown. “I’ve never kissed anyone before.”

“Couldn’t tell,” Keith said and it was only a half lie. He _could_ tell but it was too amazing of a kiss to be important.

“So…” They both said after a moment of silence.

“Oh uh you go first,” Shiro said.

“No, no, you go. What were you gonna say?”

“Nothing, I don’t--nothing. That was just a great moment and all…”

More silence.

Keith broke it by letting out a loud laugh. “God, we are so awkward.”

Shiro smiled brightly. “Yeah. We’re so weird. But that’s not a problem, is it?” Shiro reached for Keith’s hand.

Keith squeezed Shiro’s hand tightly, looking once more into those starlight silver eyes. “Nope,” he said, leaning forward to kiss Shiro once more. “Not at all.”

And they both lived happily ever...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And cut!
> 
> Thanks for reading until the end, this took me waaaaaay too long. But I had fun. Writing is...fun. I think.
> 
> But yeah thanks. Go check out my teammates, [@Takashi_niisama](https://twitter.com/Takashi_niisama) and [@SHlROTHEHERO](https://twitter.com/SHlROTHEHERO), on twitter. Or come say hi to [me](https://twitter.com/ZeroAggro)! Please. I legitimately don't have friends. 
> 
> But anyway, bye! I'm probably never writing again!


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